A Friendship Most Uncommon
by MinionsOfTheNachoArmyUnite
Summary: After the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry asks Luna to retrieve the Resurrection Stone. Luna uses the opportunity to thank someone, someone who she had never met in life. Spoilers for OotP and DH.


**A/N:** Hi.

This is a Lily Potter/Luna Lovegood friendship story written for the Creative Challenge on the HPFC forum. My characters were Lily and Luna, my quote is shown below, and my place was Hogsmede. Surprisingly, it's not crack-y at all. Hope you enjoy!

**Warnings:** Kind-of character death, possible slight OOC-ness... I think that's about it.

**Disclaimer: **Not mine.

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We all need friends with whom we can speak of our deepest concerns, and who do not fear to speak the truth in love to us. - Margaret Guenther._

Luna Lovegood was never what one would call 'normal,' some went as far as to call her 'Loony.'

Not that she minded, though. In her mind, those that were normal in an insane world were themselves insane. And this was, without a doubt, an insane world. Even ignoring the fact that there was a war that had broken out before she had even been born as a result of, let's face it, an orphan with daddy issues, the Wizarding World at large was not what one would call sane. Perhaps she was the rational one of them, as she seemed, according to Harry at least, to always know what to say and almost always knew the logical thing to do in a situation.

In what could definitely be considered a proven experiment, she was currently standing on the outskirts of Hogsmede, near the Forbidden Forest. However, she had not gotten too close to it as she always remembered what Professor Dumbledore said on her very first day at Hogwarts about the danger of it. Holding her wand out, she muttered the words, "Accio Resurrection Stone."

For a moment, nothing happened. Right before she was about to give up and get closer to where Harry had said the ring would be, she heard a slight 'whoosh' of air heading towards her and stuck her hand out to catch the ring in midair.

She was happy to have been able to get this for Harry, however small a request it was. Before returning to the castle, however, she had to thank someone.

Having heard about the legend of the Deathly Hallows many times before from her father, she knew exactly how to call upon the person. Closing her eyes, she turned the ring thrice in her hands. When she opened her eyes once again, standing in front of her was not other than Lily Potter.

Lily smiled at her for a moment before her smile faltered slightly, confusion evident on her face. Luna understood, for while she may have gotten a glance of her while watching over Harry or perhaps a bit of secondhand information from Remus or Sirius, it was quite obvious that she could not place her.

Luna, being her naturally cheery self, responded to her confusion by waving and saying, "Hello. I'm Luna Lovegood. I'm a friend of your son."

At that, Lily's confusion lessened and she responded, "Luna. Hello. I want to thank you for always supporting and helping Harry. Sirius also mentioned that if he ever got the chance, he wanted to thank you for your help at the Department of Mysteries."

Luna shook her head. "It was never an option for me. Everything he said about Voldemort just made perfect sense. Why else would he come beck from the third task with Cedric dead and him claiming something that had a million to one ratio of being utter rubbish?" She paused for a moment, ignoring Lily's incredulous look. "And tell him to not think twice about it. I'll pass the message on to Neville as well, as we were the only two of the group who had never actually met him and had no reason to go on the badly thought out rescue mission other than blind faith in Harry."

Lily laughed. Actually laughed. This girl was everything she had expected her to be from the various stories or what she had seen from her and Harry, plus eons more. Not that she didn't respect the girl, despite her bizarre tendencies. "Well, Miss Lovegood, you certainly live up to your reputation."

Luna's broad grin told her that, despite her slight worry that the girl might take that response the wrong way, that meant a lot for her to say that. "Thank you, Lily." She sighed. "Well, I suppose I should be returning now. Have a nice afterlife."

Lily once again laughed at her strange response, but they both knew that she was not laughing at her, simply with her. "OK, then. Before I go, though, I'd like to ask you one question: Why did you choose to resurrect me? I know for a fact that your mother has died. Why did you not call upon her?"

For the first time during their conversation, Luna stiffened and looked slightly on edge. Still miraculously maintaining her airy tone, she responded, "I was with her when she died. I believe that it was possible that I could have saved her. I'm afraid that if I call upon her, she will blame me for her death, and I don't know if I would be able to handle that." By the end of her statement, silent tears had started to make their way down her face.

Lily considered this before saying, "You were very young at the time, correct? Not even Hogwarts age, if I'm not mistaken. There was most likely nothing you could do. She'll understand that. I've spoken with her on a few occasions, and from what I see she is a very loving woman and exceptionally forgiving. She won't want to loose you."

Luna simply nodded her head. "Lily, I don't think I could ever thank you enough. It was very nice to have talked with you, but I think this is where I should say good bye. I'd like to get a word in to my mother before returning to the castle." She gave Lily a watery smile at the end of saying her good bye.

"Good idea. Good bye, Luna. If you ever wish to talk again, about anything at all, I won't mind a bit if you wish to call on me. You seem to be an exceptionally interesting person, and the Afterlife can be surprisingly dull at times."

Luna thought about this before saying, "As long as it doesn't pain you to return, and from the looks of it it doesn't so far, I think I'll do that."

And do that she did. When she needed someone to talk to, a mother figure, a friend, simply someone to give her advice, she would ask Harry to borrow the stone. He believed that it was to call upon her mother, and on occasions she had, but most of the time it was to have a conversation with Lily. She was there for her when her first boyfriend broke up with her, when she got engaged, when she found out she was pregnant, and all of the other milestones. Sometimes it was months between calls, while on certain occasions it had been twice or three times in one day.

Luna had once brooded on the subject that some might consider this an awkward, almost unhealthy, friendship, but she couldn't care less. Lily was the one person in her life that she could always count on to be there for her, and for that she was immensely grateful. Perhaps it was bizarre to have one of your best friends (for that was what she had considered Lily after a few years, and Lily to her.) be someone who had died the same year she was born, but that's just what Luna's whole life had been- bizarre. So, she asked herself, why stop now?

Many years later, as Luna was preparing to join Lily in Heaven, she reflected on her life and realized that it just wouldn't have been the same without her deceased friend. Though her 'insanity,' as people were still wont to call it, had mellowed over the years, she still refused to give up her seemingly random visits with Lily. In these last few years, she had used the Resurrection Stone so frequently, for Harry had left it to her in his will and had died almost seven years ago now, that she could almost see what the Afterlife looked like herself.

Later that very evening, Luna passed away quietly in her sleep. The first person who greeted her was her longtime friend. Lily gave her a warm hug, and Luna knew that the friendship that had literally been born from death was the most wonderful thing she could imagine.

_Fin._

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_**A/N:** Did you like it? I always hated the idea of Harry simply leaving the Resurrection Stone in the Forbidden Forest, and who better to find it then Luna?

Also, I'm ninety-nine percent sure this is my very first time writing Luna, unless I just mentioned her passingly in something or other, so let me know if I should do any critiquing.

Review Please?

Thanks for reading.


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